


Not A Hero

by LovelyOnism



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Handsome Jack is mentioned, Light Angst, Not Beta Read, Sasha/August kinda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-13
Updated: 2016-06-13
Packaged: 2018-07-14 18:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7186139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyOnism/pseuds/LovelyOnism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a world were people are capable of being born with powers, many go through training to become superheroes. Fiona just did it to help protect her sister.<br/>After all what kind of hero leaves someone to die?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Let Me Tell You Everything That's Going To Happen (Spoilers)

**Author's Note:**

> Well this was born out of watching my hero academia. Which then became kinda angsty and might turn into a series of stories. This one mainly centers around Fiona. There will be a follow up with Rhys.  
> This is kinda ridiculous but I decided to share it in the end.

Fiona never wanted to be a hero.

It just so happened that she was one of those individuals that were born with a power. One that allowed her to see into the future, or at least by ten minutes. It wasn't something that she thought made her hero material though. But then there was Sasha who had the ability of weapons proficiency. Simply put, no matter kind of weapon it was she would be able to use it without any previous training. With a power like that a life of peace wasn't really an option and Fiona would do whatever she could to protect her sister. That's why after high school she went to the 'hero academy', an institution set up to train future heroes. It was where she met Rhys and Vaughn.

When she met them she thought they were a couple of nerds who were in it for the glory. She didn’t think they were hero material either. Rhys was a technopath while Vaughn had probability computation. Vaughn and Fiona were grouped in most of the same classes having powers considered precognitive. Really all of them should have been support instead of field operatives. How unlucky for them that things didn’t turn out that way.

Rhys was adamant that they were going to go out and save lives, what other reason were they training for if not for that?

Once Sasha joined the academy it seemed that they were starting to really form a team. Since none of them had any invulnerability or super strength power, Rhys decided that mech suits were the answers. If nothing else, Fiona would always say that his power was top notch. Why else would he be given a SS rank in power. Still to her he would always be the tall nerdy guy she insulted two minutes into meeting him.

Being freshly minted heroes they didn’t have a lot of major missions. Some routine rescue of citizens and minor wannabe villains. It was incredible when they actually hung out with the big time heroes like Athena or Zero. The mentoring they received only further directed them toward the path of a hero.

It all came to a head at the most unlikely of times.

They were sent when a bomb threat was made by a group of terrorists at a museum. Fiona was able to foresee where the guards would be placed and with Vaughn’s assessment they were able to determine where the bombs would be placed. All that was left was Rhys disarming each one while Sasha took care of neutralizing the terrorists.  There were no casualties.

What was unexpected was an explosion at a nearby building. They were the closest team available how could they not go? Fiona was needed to see if there was an imminent explosion. Then as quickly as they could they tried to evacuate the area and rescue the workers inside.

Then they learned that some workers were trapped inside, locked behind malfunctioning doors. So of course Sasha and Rhys entered to save them. Fiona didn’t go in because she had over used her power causing a migraine and a nose bleed. That’s when it happened.

Another explosion occurred and Rhys and Sasha never made it to the workers. Fiona rushed inside to get to their location. Sasha was completely knocked out, Rhys was able to push her out of the way when the explosion caused part of the building to collapse. He wasn’t so lucky though. His arm was completely crushed and he was trapped by the weight of the debris.  

Fiona had to make a decision, on whether or not to save Rhys. She could see that her decision to remove him would cause the structure to fail and even when she asked Vaughn to calculate the probability of successfully rescuing Rhys it was less than 10%. So she did what she had to. What would save Sasha. Picking up her sister she left him, never looking back. Even as he pleaded.

So that was the end for their team.

Fiona and Sasha later were added to another team and Vaughn went off on his own.

That’s why whenever people told her she was a hero, her instinct was to say she wasn’t. What kind of hero leaves someone behind?

She wasn’t a hero. She was just a sister trying to take care of her only family.

That was all.


	2. The Simple Beginning, The Hopeful Middle, And The Tragic End (With A Suspicous Epilogue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four moments of Fiona's life.  
> Part 1: Meeting Rhys and Vaughn  
> Part 2: Training to Be Heroes  
> Part 3: When Everything Turned to Shit  
> Part 4: Living With the Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about breaking this stuff up but then I decided to post it all together. Um there are attempts at humor and doing superhero things.

**The Simple Beginning**

Fiona wasn't really lucky when she was born with her power. It wasn't as useful or powerful as most people would thing, especially once you'be been identified and your power cataloged in the system. Thus Fiona never got the chance to use her power to win a lottery or any type of reward from gambling. Since her power had a short time limit she didn't think she would be 'hero' material. The institution that turned them out would seek her out to attend and she didn't really want to go.

When Sasha's power was determined, Fiona didn't need any precognitive powers to know that her sister's path only lead to that of the hero institution. Sasha was the only family she had and like hell she was going to let her go out into danger on her own. That’s why after high school she applied for the hero academy and got in. A decision she was questioning herself the moment she entered the campus. 

The money it took to build this place could probably take care of everyone in the city for the rest of their lives and then some. It was built like a fortress and humongous. Well it was supposed to be able to withstand a lot of damage from the students. Making her way through the building she was trying to find her first class. Most of her classes were meant for other people who were deemed to have precognitive like abilities but there were a few that had different goals. Probably so that they could get use to working with others. Unless someone was insanely powerful the heroes that left this place rarely worked alone.

Now if only she could figure out where the room was. She was going to be late before she found her room. Why was there no one to help newcomers out. So wrappedup in her own thoughts she knocked into someone.

“Sorry,” she apologized.

The guy she ran into was short and he had a much taller male companion.

“It’s alright. You’re trying to find your class too?”  he asked.

“It’s like they built this place to be a friggin maze.” 

“If only they gave us a virtual map we’d find our place in no time.”

“I’m guessing neither of you have an ability that can help me find my room.”

The shorter guy explained that they had been discussing if his friend used his power, whether or not they'd get in trouble. Fiona was a bit confused but said that they were supposed to use their power and he was being an idiot if he rather wander the halls instead of getting to class on time. The taller guy frowned before looking around until he spotted something.

“I’m going to go to the scanner. It’s probably part of the campuses main server and I should be able figure out where our classes are.”

Fiona tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to hack into their system? Isn't this place supposed to have crazy good security and be unhackable?"

The guy walked with confidence toward the scanner on the side of the hall and placed his hand against it.

“It’s my power, I’m a technopath,” he answered.

“And so what? You can talk to machines?”

“It means that to all machines, I am their god.”

Fiona couldn’t help but laugh. The way the guy said it with such bravado, it was too much. He frowned and crossed his arms.

“Well what’s your power,” he asked unamused by her laughter

She hesitated. As much as he wanted to go ‘hah! I can see the future!” she knew that it would be completely undermined by the fact that it was only ten minutes. It wasn’t like she couldn’t answer him though. Best to be up front about it.

“I can see the future but only by ten minutes.” 

The guys looked at each other and she didn’t know if it was an expression of admiration or more surprise that they shared.

“Then that means we’ll probably share classes,” said the shorter guy. “I’m Vaughn by the way.”

“What’s your power then?”

“It’s Probability Computation. Pretty much means I can look at a situation and tell you how likely something will happen. Wins me a lot of coin tosses.”

“I’m Rhys by the way. I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around with Vaughn.”

“Reez? Is that you’re super hero name you’re just handing out already?”

“It’s Rhys and that’s the name I was given by my parents. When I'm a legit hero it's going to be something awesome.  After all a good hero name is the first step to being widely recognized by the public.”

Oh god, he was a glory hound.

“Sure then. My name’s Fiona and I can see that you’ll be late to your class.”

Rhys freaked out, yelling his goodbye as he ran to his class. Fiona and Vaughn stood in the hall watching him until he was out of sight.

“You were totally fucking with him,” said Vaughn with a small smile.

“Totally,” she confirmed.

* * *

 

**The Hopeful Middle**

Athena was looking at them with disapproval. Fiona never wanted to admit that it actually affected her but it did. Since Sasha joined the academy Fiona did everything she could to make sure they were teamed together. It wasn’t approved of because having siblings paired had the potential of either sister getting too emotional and making a bad decision if the other was in severe danger. Fiona replied that as heroes they would always be in danger and who better to save Sasha than her sister.

She had no idea how she ended up forming a team with Rhys and Vaughn too however. It was because of them that they were earning Athena’s disapproval. Okay, maybe blaming them completely was wrong but she didn’t give a damn. It was situations like this that made her wonder if they shouldn’t invite August to join them. But August and Rhys didn’t get along and there was something going on between him and Sasha.

“The only one of you that should ever be out in the field is Sasha!” Athena yelled at them.

Athena was everything a hero should be, everything Fiona aspired to be. A true fighter with great skill and power.

“Don’t you think you’re being just a little harsh?” asked Rhys because he didn’t know when to keep his damn mouth shut.

Athena’s glare became more severe and Fiona didn’t know how Rhys didn’t disintegrate on the spot.

“You’re going to run the course again and you’re not leaving until you perfect it or you give up on this idiotic notion of going out into the field!”

They all groaned and Rhys gave a small nervous chuckle while rubbing the back of his neck while the other three glared at him.

“So Vaughn, what is the probability that we can get the course done perfectly?”

“Do you really need my powers to know the low probability of that?”

They were forced to do the course again, and again, and again. The prototype suits that Rhys had designed were holding up remarkably well. Though they didn't have any styles she was impressed with how much work he had already put into them. When Rhys was told that he would be crushed within five minutes of a fight and since he had no fighting experience until joining the academy, he made it his goal to use his power to make up for as many physical capabilities as possible. For now though they helped them endure the grueling practice.

Finally they stopped when Athena's girlfriend arrived, since Athena wasn't allowed to leave heroes in training alone in the dome. So when Janey came to take Athena to dinner they were ordered to hit the showers. Janey greeted them and talked to Rhys for a bit. She was a teacher for some of his classes since she also made a lot of tech for heroes, though she was not actually a technopath.

“You know Athena has a point,” said Sasha as they left the dome.

“Really? What was it?” replied Rhys.

“With the power Vaughn and you have it’s better if you stayed behind. Not that the stuff you make isn’t awesome but you gotta admit you’re going to get your ass handed to you if you were in a battle with an actual villain.”

Rhys crossed his arms and frowned. Fiona sighed having heard this argument for the thousandth time.

“My power isn’t only for staying in a lab all the time. What kind of hero takes the backseat and doesn’t risk their own life?”

Sasha raised her hands stopping the argument, not wanting to drag out the argument where neither of them would ever admit defeat. How could they have energy for fighting when every muscle in their body must be hurting from the training. Sasha walked away first. Fiona began to follow before stopping to turn back to Rhys.

“Can I ask you a serious question?”

Rhys raised an eyebrow.

“Only if it’s actually serious and not one of those, ‘Do you have to be a dumbass?’ kind of questions.”

“For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve always been really adamant about ‘being a hero’. Where you just born with this notion of what it means to be a hero or what?”

Rhys was silent, whether he was actually in deep thought about the question or merely surprised that it was serious she wasn’t sure.

“I was saved once.”

Fiona’s eyes widened. This was the first time she heard of this. 

“I was just a boy but ever since that day I wanted to be just like him,” he continued.

“Who was it that saved you?”

“The hero Yellowjacket.”

What.

Fiona of course knew who Rhys was talking about but of all the heroes in the world to aspire to be he chose one of the most ridiculous ones.

“Didn’t he die?”

Rhys actually looked… sad?

“Yeah, it was during the incident with that devastating monster four years ago.”

“It’s actually amazing you didn’t know about this until now. Rhys’ obsession with Yellowjacket is quite a serious matter,” said Vaughn.

“It’s not an obsession!” sputtered Rhys.

Now that Fiona thought about it, Rhys did add yellow as the main color to a lot of his tech. She just thought he liked the color. 

“Keep telling yourself that bro but I’ve been friends with you for forever. It’s an obsession.”

Fiona smirked, this was too good. Rhys was actually a fan boy and of a hero that was so obnoxious. She couldn’t wait to tell Sasha.

“So what did you learn from a hero like Yellowjacket? How to be in the limelight and wear ridiculous outfits?” asked Fiona sarcastically.

“What’s wrong with wanting to be recognized for your hardwork?! It’s probably amazing to be loved and admired by the masses. Being a hero is incredible.”

Fiona’s smirk dropped at his words.

“Sure, just make sure you don’t make it obvious about your love for him and call yourself bumblebee or something.”

Rhys let out an angry huff as Vaughn laughed.

“I’m not going to stand here and take this. I’m going to the lab and work on our suits. We’ll show Athena what we can do!”

Rhys walked away with purpose and anger.  It was good when he was in these moods. He got a lot accomplished and though Fiona would never tell him to his face, he did make some pretty awesome stuff.

Before he was completely out of sight, Fiona remembered something.

“Don’t forget to have something really impressive to show off next training session! Zero’s going to be our instructor you know!”

That should doubly motivate him to make something awesome.

* * *

 

**The Tragic End**

"We have to go," said Rhys.

"What we have to do is take in the guys we just defeated," argued Fiona.

Successfully taking down a group of terrorists with no civilian causalities had put her in a pretty great mood. But even she could see the fire coming from the building that had exploded not too far away.

“We’re heroes and we’re the closest people who can respond to it! The cops can take in these guys.”

Sasha looked to her older sister.

“I agree with Rhys. We have to act now to save as many people as we can.”

She knew they were right.

“Give me a moment to make sure we’re not walking into another explosion.”

Fiona had worked on getting her stamina up for using her power. On one hand seeing the future allowed for her to end situations more quickly. On the other hand for situations like the terrorists and probably this explosion there was no way to wrap everything up in ten minutes.

Once she cleared them to go they rushed over to the building. It was looking pretty grim. The building was for chemicals/research and though the fire hadn't spread only to any nearby buildings that didn't mean that it wasn't going to happen. Of the few that had already escaped they learned of the many workers still stuck inside. To make matter worse another explosion was imminent. They weren't equipped to put out such a large fire but the suits Rhys designed should hold out against the heat and allow them to save as many people as possible within the building.

Vaughn was in charge of getting people out of the surrounding area. The rest of them went inside, splitting up to cover more ground. Fiona was anxious being stuck in the building with no way to calm the flames. Rhys half-jokingly said his next project was going to be cooling bombs. Small enough to keep on their suits but powerful enough to take care of large fires. If only Rhys had the power of foresight to see that they needed them now instead of later.

A rescue mission like this was so much worse than facing the terrorists. When dealing with people and between Vaughn and her they had a better chance of keeping the situation under control. But forces that constantly changed just by their presence was just plain terrifying. Fiona kept on looking into the future every five minutes. She was beginning to over exert herself and despite the suits helping they really could only do so much without the strain of the job starting to get to you. Blood began to drip out of her nose and she could taste some blood enter her mouth.

Once out she sat by Vaughn who was able to clear the maximum blast radius. He was able to get in contact with Janey so that they could have some support of clearing out the fire. Regular fire men would not be able to put out the flames because of the chemicals so they would be the only ones on the scene making sure to get all civilians as far away as possible. She sometimes disagreed with Rhys but saving people sometimes really had their moments.

“Maybe Rhys should add some tissues to our suits,” said Vaughn who was a little grossed out by the awful amount of blood completely covering now the lower half of her face.

“Don’t forget some aspirin. I have a killer migraine now.”

“Just take it easy now. You guys did great.”

“You too,” she replied with a smile.

She knew the only reason Vaughn was even out here was because of Rhys but he really was a valuable team mate.

“Fiona,” said Sasha through their comms.

“Yeah?”

“We learned that there are more workers trapped inside. They're looked behind some malfunctioned doors and Rhys is the only one that can talk to it to force it to open.”

“Wait Sasha we don’t know when the-“

“The next explosion will be,” finsished Sasha, “It’s going to be soon but Rhys and I have to try to save them. I’m not going to willingly leave anybody behind.”

Fiona knew she couldn’t say anything to change their minds.

“Please be safe.”

Sasha laughed.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

Fiona asked Vaughn what the probability of an explosion occurring while Rhys and Sasha was still inside. She didn’t like his answer.

Every second waiting felt like an eternity. Still she couldn’t focus enough to use her power to help. Vaughn was watching everything closely. His ability told him that there was no doubt when an explosion would happen and with every second passing the probability was rising. But even with the impending explosion Rhys and Sasha already said they were going inside. 

Then the worst happened.

An explosion went off. Fiona frantically yelled through their comms. There was no reply from Sasha though. Vaughn was also panicking, calling out to Rhys.

“We need help,” they heard Rhys finally say through the comm.

“What’s happened?! Where’s Sasha?!” yelled Fiona.

“She’s safe but unconscious. I’m kinda trapped.”

“Kinda?” asked Vaughn.

“When I say kinda I mean most definitely. Just trying not to freak out. My arm is completely pinned down by a bunch of rubble from the explosion. I can’t lift it off me without some help.”

“I’m coming for ya,” said Vaughn.

“No,” said Fiona.

“I’m not leaving Rhys or Sasha inside!”

Fiona stood, forcing herself not to sway on her feet.

"I'll be going in. You have to see the big picture for us. When another explosion is about to happen you have to tell us. You'll be better at directing the help with they get here," she took a deep breath trying to pull together any strength she had left, "There's no way I'm leaving without my sister."

“Yeah but you’re not well and I may not have been going through this building but I haven’t just been sitting on my ass either. I still have more energy than you to go in and rescue them both. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of actually doing what’s best for either of them.”

She surged forward, grabbing hold of his shoulders. Her grip was tight and her eyes frantic.

“It will be much worse if I’m forced to stay out here! Please, Vaughn. I have to go in.”

For a moment she didn’t think he would relent but he gave a sigh of defeat. Telling her to hurry before anything worse happened to the others.

Rushing inside she went in deeper. The fire was as intense as ever and she didn’t know how much time she had to save them. When she did get to them Sasha was lying on the ground completely incapacitated.

“Oh my god, Rhys.”

Fiona looked in horror as she saw him. Most of his right arm was completely trapped by the rubble and it was clear he was in excruciating pain.

“Please, help.”

She began to lift some of the rubble before a loud noise began and more of the building began to fall on them.

“Shit. What are we going to do?”

“Maybe if Vaughn came too then with the two of you combined..” he trailed off doubting his own words as he spoke them. 

Fiona forced herself to use her power. Looking into all possibilities for the next 10 minutes. What would happen if she stayed? If she got Vaughn? If they tried to save Rhys? All she saw was failure. There was no way to remove the rubble and able to save both Rhys and Sasha.

“Vaughn,” she said through the comm.

Rhys smiled, thinking that she was going call him for help.

“What’s happening Fiona?”

“I need you to calculate the probability of getting Rhys’ arm out of the rubble so we can all leave safely.”

“I saw that the structural integrity had been even further compromised but give me a moment.”

Vaughn’s mind was able to take in all factors in a given moment. She wanted to hear that her vision was wrong. That they could still save him.

“Vaughn?” she asked uneasy form the silence.

“It’s less than 10%,” he answered gravely.

“What?!” yelled Rhys.

Fiona gritted her teeth. Knowing what she had to do now but wishing it didn’t have to be this way. Picking up her sister she refused to look at Rhys even as he was still frantically trying to think of way out from the rubble.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said before leaving with Sasha.

First he was in disbelief, saying her name in disbelief. But then the panic really set in as she started walking away. He began yelling at her. Pleading for her to stop.

“DON’T LEAVE ME! FIONA!”

She never looked back.

Once outside they had to leave the area. Vaughn didn’t look at Fiona but he knew. 

They waited for the reinforcements to come help them. When they finally did arrive another explosion went off. Fiona looked at Vaughn who stared hopelessly at it’s direction. He didn’t yell but she could see tears beginning to spill down his face. She didn’t say anything to him. After all how could she comfort him when she was the one who left Rhys behind. 

She could still hear him yelling. Fiona knew if she had looked back at him it would only make it worse. That’s why she couldn’t do it.

She could never look back

* * *

 

**~~Suspicious~~ Epilogue**

Fiona was in the lab with Janey, waiting for her to finish the repairs after the latest clash with catastrophe. While she was utterly useless in the lab she also knew that Janey didn't like being completely alone as she worked. It was the least Fiona could do with all the hardwork Fiona's girlfriend did for them. This time the blaster that Rhys had designed had gotten some damage, and with Janey having the only technical know how of Rhys' creations it was up to her to patch them up. 

Even after all this time Rhys' tech was still kicking ass and protecting her. Janey would only make minor alterations but most of his work still held up and needed no improvements.

reminded her of Rhys but it would be stupid to get rid of something so useful. Fiona was not stupid.

It had been tough after Rhys died. Vaughn went through the rubble trying to find his remains but they couldn’t even find those of the one’s that were still trapped. Everything was completely obliterated. It was hard to see what Sasha thought after it all. She merely said that Rhys knew it was possibility that they could have died down there. That he knew what he was getting into.

Vaughn transferred to another area, She hadn’t heard from him in over a year. He was probably doing support work now. Sasha and her were added to another group consisting of August and a neat new android named Gortys.

Gortys was a kind of gift from Athena. Really she was confiscated from the organization that Athena use to be a part of before she realized their true motives. Janey had recently been able to program it to be… not evil. Athena sometimes joined their team. Always temporarily though. 

Fiona was listening to Janey talk about Athena's latest missions. It seemed that there was some activity happening at old Atlas locations and since Athena knew everything there was to know about the now destroyed villainous organizations it was her job to see what was happening with the places that still stood.

It must be hard to have a girlfriend who was away a lot.

Janey had been surprised that Fiona wasn't out stopping evil or working on anything. It was true that until recently her team had been onto a new criminal organization but then just like that it seemed to have been disbanded. An internal power struggle it seems as most of the members were killed by the time they found their headquarters. It was strange to have the situation resolve itself and even stranger that whoever did the killing didn't start a new group. Or maybe they had and they had yet to find discover them.

There were days when she wondered what it would be like to have been born with no powers. Then she would stop that train of thought immediately. The quiet life never suited her and then there was Sasha to take care of. So for now they were stuck going out and helping people, stopping the bad guys.

"It must be tough out there being a hero and all," said Janey realizing Fiona was trapped in a train of thought.

"Not as tough as it must be staying here doing the work you do."

Janey shrugged her shoulders but had a smile. Out of the two of them Janey was the real hero. Fiona didn't think of herself as one. She wasn't born that lucky after all. All she had was the power to protect her sister which lead her to help out others from time to time. If she was truly lucky things would be different. But you could never change the past.

No matter how much you regretted it.

Now all there was left was to wait for the next catastrophe to happen and face it head on.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay the Yellowjacket thing is in relation to a wasp! Which is also the only name i could think up of. So don't be too harsh on me for that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it leave a kudo or a comment! If you can think of any super names for them totally feel free to tell me because I suck at it.


End file.
